Kotaku: lawyers

Activision Pirate Shaken By Legal Scare Tactics

Mike Fahey — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:20:00 MDT

So Activision is going all RIAA on software pirates, and now the pirates have started to complain. Over at GameCyte an anonymous pirate who fell under the scrutiny of Activision's crack legal team laments over his harsh treatment at their hands, detailing how they callously based their monetary demand on his personal income and buying habits rather than the material infringed, and how they suggested that if he hire a lawyer he'd wind up paying them even more. Towards the end of the article he even muses on how people who hear of such harsh treatment might not buy Activision products anymore.

Of course, this is a man who opted not to buy them in the first place. Either way, the rule of thumb to follow here, is if a lawyer contacts you about nearly anything, consult a lawyer...preferably not the one who wants your money. The tactics are indeed pretty heavy-handed, but I suppose lawyers with a soft touch are kind of hard to come by.

Anonymous Activision Pirate Admits Guilt, Condemns ‘Scare Tactics’ [GameCyte]

Halpin On Texas Teen Counterstrike Case

Mike Fahey — Fri, 04 May 2007 13:40:53 MDT

Hal Halpin took a moment out of his busy schedule of presiding over the ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association) to weigh in on the situation in Texas where a high school boy was arrested and ejected from his school for creating a Counterstrike map in its likeness.

Paul Hwang's only crime was bad timing. He had the misfortune of uploading his mod during a period of time in which the nation was, perhaps unduly, made sensitive about the supposed link between violence and video games.

That really sums it up quite nicely. Had this been a month ago and had certain people not made a point of publicly blaming the Virginia Tech shootings on video games without any concrete evidence, perhaps this might not have happened. Check out Game Politics for the full text of Halpin's statement on the matter. Michael Fahey

ECA's Hal Halpin Weighs in on Texas Student Case [GamePolitics]

Homebrew PSP Final Fantasy MMO

Mike Fahey — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:20:10 MDT

The first Final Fantasy game to hit the PSP comes from quite the unexpected source, as homebrew developer TT-Team releases not only the first PSP FF title, it's the first massively multiplayer PSP title. The game is basically a MMO port of Triple Triad, the card game from FFVIII. You can connect to US or Euro servers, collect cards, gain levels, chat, and manage friends, all from your homebrew capable PSP. Here's a trailer for the game:

The game is free to play, as I'm sure making money off of Square Enix's property would piss them off even more than just using their images and concepts to promote a free game. While I smell the distinct possibility of lawyers in the developer's future, the game itself is quite an accomplishment from a non-commercial dev. Well done!

You can download the game at the site below, and for you non-PSP owners Triple Triad is also playable on the PC. Get it while it lasts! Michael Fahey

Triple Triad PSP Forums [PSP-Italia via PSP News]

Lawyers Attack Game Site For Academy Awards Comparison (It Didn't Make)

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 01:22:24 MDT

The Academy Awards. Hollywood's opportunity to bask in itself and spend loads of money on limos, parties and wooing Academy members to vote for "important" motion pictures. Last week, Gamasutra ran an article, which compared a planned Japanese game award show to the Oscars. The Academy's sue-happy lawyers jumped down Gamasutra's throat:

The headline reads [before it was edited] "Japan Plans 'Game Academy Awards'." It refers to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to create an award for the country's video games industry. Regardless of whether or not this ACADEMY AWARDS reference was derived from an outside news source, it is nonetheless concerning to the Academy. We consider the use of the ACADEMY AWARDS name in Gamasutra's headline as damaging to our rights by tending to dilute the ACADEMY AWARDS mark's unique identification with the Academy or incorrectly implying these awards are in some way connected with or endorsed by the Academy.

Thing is, the "Game Academy Awards" bit came from a Japanese newspaper, The Yomiuri Shinbun, and was simply quoted by the site. So to prevent the Oscars' "unique" identity to be diluted, the Academy strong-armed Gamasutra to remove a quote from a major Japanese newspaper.

Just know Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, that hopefully this Japanese "Game Academy Awards"—I'm quoting here as it's not connected with your dog and pony show—will be nothing like the Oscars. Judging by your track record (take for example, stiffing Martin Scorsese in favor of Kevin Costner for Best Director), I can only hope that the Japanese "Game Academy Awards" will be nothing like the "Movie Academy Awards." Otherwise, fat chance Miyamoto or Kojima will ever get recognized. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [GameSetWatch]